Fifth and sixth graders. They burst through the door full of questions. “Does the sun make noise?” “Does Saturn wear bracelets?” “Do clones have belly buttons?” As I watch the kids’ faces, I wonder who among them will grow up flummoxed by the world. Over there: the boy with the blue backpack, bumping into walls, chasing sun rays reflected off his teacher’s watch-yes, a possible dreamer. That quiet girl sucking her thumb, picking her nose … her withdrawal suggests she can only sip at the world a little at a time. The kids delight in the handwritten letters framed on the walls in the hall outside the Star Room. Astronomers from all over Texas, particularly from McDonald Observatory in the mountains down south, receive strange and hopeful notes from people. Sometimes the astronomers forward the letters to us and we display them, with permission from the writers or their families. I love to help the children sound out words, or wend their way through especially prickly sentences.
What do You think about One Day The Wind Changed (2010)?
